Gold nanoparticles surface modification using BSA and cysteine

Abstract

Metal nanometer-size particles show intriguing optical properties which depend on their shape, size and local environment. For these reasons, these materials have received a lot of attention in different scientific areas, and several applications can be found, for example: fabrication of bio-sensor, electronic devices, catalysis and new drugs. However, in the case of biomedical applications, metallic nanoparticles need to satisfy several requirements: bio-compatibility, stability and functionality. To satisfy these requirements, metallic nanoparticles need to be modified in their surfaces. In this work we report the synthesis and the modification of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) surface. GNPs were fabricated following the Turkevich's method, and the bio-conjugation (surface modification) was done using cysteine and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Our results of Uv-vis spectroscopy show that BSA and cysteine permit to increase the stability of GNPs in presence of NaCl, the stability is function of BSA concentration. Also to verify the bio-conjugation we used Raman spectroscopy and gel electrophoresis.